My house in the middle of a work day

O.k...So, I have been busy which is my excuse for not blogging for the last 3 trillion years...Things are good. I am busy.

About six weeks ago I decided that I was going to go look for a job, my kids are getting older and I am new to town and I do not know many people around here, so sitting in my house has become very very boring. I had the brilliant idea that I would go get an evening job, get me out my house, socialising, meeting people right?? good idea right?? make some extra cash...all good ideas....

Well I have found I have a few problems with my great idea.

#1 the only place that is open after 6pm here in this large town of 3800 people is Walmart or Sobeys...so there was my choices and since I was not going to work unless Mitch could be home with the kids my options were limited. I don't care if my kids are all in school, I still like to be home during the day if they need me or are sick and I can be here...So evening it is and Walmart was the lucky winner of my application.

So here I said it...I work at Walmart...and no I don't have to do the cheer...I do however have to wear the sexy blue vest, and 10% dicount which is my favorite part.. ...SO does my idea sound wonderful so far??

Things are good, I do get out, I do talk to adults, I have met people and the girls I work with are great....But they are working me a bit more then I had in mind. I work 4 hour shifts during the week which is nice but the weekends are another story....8 hour shifts every Saturday and Sunday...how am I suppose to get things done that way??

So here is my biggest problem...working sucks...my house suffers. I cleans all day..then have dinner and go to work and leave my husband and 5 children responsible to get it to where I had it....guess what...NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN. Don't get me wrong the fam does great....But my husband is a man and the kids are under the age of 12....so it turns out that I spend the next morning recovering from the night before...And Saturdays and Sundays are a complete right off...I spend all day Monday recovering my house I call the bomb shell back to its natural form....
But as my husband says....I chose this so I can can't complain and I have to stick it out...Not sure for how long I will stick it out, I don't want to be the looser employee who quits 2 weeks later but I can't do this forever...My kids need me, even Colton said to me.."mom you said you would not work that much and you are working tooo much" and my little Macey says..."moms don't work, only dad's" Poor kids, this is what happens when you stay home their whole life. Don't mke..that is "get" I am going to leave my speling mistake there so you all can see how bad my typing is sometimes..I mean seriously, how did I ger "mke" out of "get "?? that is just embarassing...anyway getting back on track....don't get me wrong I have huge respect for working mom's I don't know how they do it..maybe if I had a actual career I may think differently about work but since my certificate was in early childhood development I can't really use that unless I am willing to work school hours in a preschool. Which I may do at some point but I feel my kids are still too young for me to be doing that.

Anyway, I was going to post a picture of my in all my blue vest glory but I decided against that...it could come back to haunt me one day. But I did post pictures of my before and after pictures of my house when I am home......as compared to when I am not. This folks is why when you think you have a good idea...just ignore it.

This is a picture of Macey and Halle's room while mom is home....This picture is when mom is gone.....








Laundry room while I am home...that load on the freezer I am in the middle of folding...it was my last load for the day. Don't you hate how my washer and dryer have to sit..not sure who figured out that set up but it drives me crazy, bad enoug that my washer and dryer are not in the right order...but that my washing machine is not sitting nicely beside the dryer where it belongs!! Mitch is suppose to get me longer hoses to fix the problem so that my feng shui does not go all hay wire everytime I walk into my laundry room....I told him to just buy new machines, he laughed but I was not kidding.

This is what happens to the laundry when I am gone for 2 days working 8 hour shifts....it's a monstrosity I know...

This is the before of my bedroom...When I am home...

This is what I came home to yesterday ....

Note the absence of female clothing on the floor. The pink shirt is not actually pink...That is red.

The play room...when mom is home.

The family room...when I am home...I know how much do you love the retro couch?? That couch belonged to Mitchs Grandma when his mom was still living at home!!! we love it.

This is what happens when I am not at home to speak calmly to kids NOT to drink downstairs and clean up their mess...if you look closely you can see between the couch and chair a nice little spill spot..it was chocolate milk in case you were wondering..I got to clean it....awesome.

Play room...in it's defence, it looks like this often just not at the end of the day or in the morning...but I make sure it gets cleaned up before bed...But not when I get home at 10:30pm....

This is my kitchen before the tornado hits.

other view....please take note to the pineapple/pot's of flowers boarder that is there...adds a nice beachy /grandma feeling to the room doesn't it??
I should have taken a close up..it's lovely. One day when I get a new kitchen It will be gone, I should go look to see if I can find it again, I hate to loose such a treasure.

This is after....Note the garbage can in middle of the kitchen...always a good place for the garbage to be, not sure why I didn't think of that.

Other view....There is that garbage again...I like it.

The living room before....Please no comments at the pathetic attempt at putting a picture on my wall...I know it's too small but I needed a place to put it. I have since moved it to a smaller wall and now I have to figure out what to put on that wall....I need to paint it first. I am decorating challenged just so you all know.

This is the living room I came home to last night....Love the random cups laying on the floor...at least there was not chocolate milk or grape juice stains to be found...It was my lucky day....Oh wait...I found them down stairs, never mind.

Anyway, that is it...hope you liked my tour, I did take pictures of the crazy bathroom after a Sunday morning but I guess I never posted them and since I don't know how to move or delete my photo's after posting them and they take forever to load anyway I will just leave you with that...

I have to make mention though that Bailey, my trusty Bailey had a spotless room, you can always count on her to get the job done...she is always organising her room, every morning I get mad at her and tell her to stop cleaning her room and get ready for school...sadly I have created this....I realise there is no one to blame but me, but really can't complain about a child who makes her bed everyday even on Saturday??? Who does that?? Oh ya...me, but I don't on Sunday..Sundays are made for 5 kids and mom and dad laying in my bed and watching some t.v and falling asleep..I love Sundays, well I loved them when I was not working them....Also, in Mitch's defence my Living room and Kitchen usually look a bit better then that...Mitch just had company yesterday so it went to the birds...but all the other rooms they take the hit.

Lesson learned....Next time I think it would be fun to casually work...I will ignore my thoughts...its just easier that way.

The simple things

There are few products in the world that I have been loyal to through out my life..I usually find new and better things and move on to, like perfumes, or laundry soap, which I choose by smell not by how well I think it works, awesome I know. Anyway, I usually find something that I like better eventually and move on to that till another new fun something comes along.
I am going to tell you a little story, when I was 16 I came across this wonderful new mascara. I have a friend who we have been tight since we were 4 and we spend many days at each others houses. One day she was putting on her makeup and since we shared a love for specific mascaras I wanted to try her new "amazing" mascara.....I was hooked!! And I have not looked back since, I have tried new ones but I always go back to old trusty, I have a love affair with it..this being Max Factors calorie 2000. I LOVE it.

1 problem...A few years ago Max Factor decided to pull out of Canada and so they no longer sell it here, very frustrating...I decided I should just find a new kind that I like, but guess what...Not any have stacked up to the goodness that is my calorie 2000. So I have figured out a system I call it ...Marin...She gets the instructions of buying at least 3 or 4 at a time when she comes so that I am properly stocked.

2nd problem...like my hair needing a cut and dye job, I need a replenishment of my max factory stash....I am on my last one and my sister is no where to be found....except in Philly...which in my opinion is not where she should be, she does me no good being in Philly. She is my hair dresser and since she is free she is hard to replace...But she knows what I like and how I like it so in my mind she is the best, I have yet to find someone who can do it as good as her, not that I have not found good people because I have, just Marin Well, she does not cost me $125.00 a head and she can complain about having to comb through my hair and I know she still loves me, the others I don't think share her love....I think they secretly swear at me in their heads while combing it.

My deepest wish besides world peace and all my family and friends dreams to come true and all sorrow in the world to be gone is for max factor to come back to Canada, preferably to Wally World since it is cheapest there and let's face it, I like cheap, its just a little piece of heaven for me, a simple pleasure I enjoy..That and tresemme mousse...don't leave home without it, seriously the best mousse I have ever used, even better then some of the salon products I have used.. Anyway getting off the topic at hand here.





This is my happy I have calorie 2000 stashed safely away in my bathroom cupboard smile...This picture is A little creepy I think, but I thought the lighting turned out rather strange so I thought I would post it....

Here is me and max factor living in perfect harmony, just like it was meant to be..... I was born to wear it.




P.s...You gotta love it when you are looking through pictures and you find this...This is what happens when your husband has the camera and he is suppose to be taking family Christmas dinner pictures...**sighs***


Anyway that's all for now...Just wanted to release the love inside me I feel for my mascara that is not available to me and the random boob picture for your entertainment.


Jana...out.

Brett, what to do with him??

So we are settled and moved in and everything is put away and I am ready for Christmas..it's been a busy few days but I got it all done and I am ready to sit back and enjoy the holidays!

So random thought, I was going through some videos and I have found some funny videos and it got me thinking, I am not sure I have ever talked about Brett.

I love this kid, he smiles at me and my heart melts. Without getting into a big long story I will explain the introduction to Brett. Brett came into our lives at the worst possible time, we were living with my parents since Mitch went back to school, I had just started working again so I could help generate some income. Well I got pregnant and ended up sooooo sick I thought I was going to die, I would pray everyday that this would just go away....We did not plan him and actually we were trying to prevent this kind of thing from happening.
Well it didn't go away, and one day while sitting in the doctors office I was in tears, tears that would not stop...The Doctor left me alone for a moment to collect myself and when he left the room I sat there and all of a sudden the room got really bright, almost like the sun came blasting right into the room and I got this wonderful overwhelming feeling that it was going to be ok and that I would have great joy with this child, after that the sun left the room and I started to cry again. I had more moments like this through out my pregnancy , moments that were very special to me and helped me bond with this baby inside me, and I am sure it was kept me going so I could get through the sickness.
After Brett was born I was bursting with love for this child, I found myself crying every time I thought about it.

He was the BEST baby, he never cried unless he was Hungary, I felt like I neglected him all the time since he just sat there content all the time....Well he turned into a toddler and that was that...he was the busiest, climbed on everything, got into everything, ran everywhere kid you have ever met and he drove me insane!!!!! He was more then all my kids put together ever were, my other kids were quiet, clam and never left my side, so he was a whole new ball game for me. For awhile there I wondered when the joy would come since he had so much energy he completely exhausted me......Well Brett is now 6 and he still exhausts me, still full of energy, he goes and goes, but he is more sensitive then his sisters and about as sweet as cherrie pie and this mom is a sucker for him. I mean seriously how can you not love a face like this??

Brett always falls asleep where ever he stops...he goes all day so once he stops he is out!
can you possibly get any cuter?? I mean really??

Classic Brett pouting face....he is famous for his pouting!

Me and the Brett man.

He snuggles me everyday and I know that he is mine....he was mine before this earth and will be mine after this earth. I am not sure the connection that came with him but I know we were kindred spirits.

Brett, not sure he will ever slow down EVER, but I am sure I will always love to love him.

Here is a few video's, the 2nd video is a good example of the "Ball children" Those 2 cute girls in the pink running together are my sweet girls...the 2 kids running through the others bowling everyone over are my kids as well, this shows Brett in all his glory...running and running never stopping when he is suppose to be waiting his turn.....Yep those wild animals would be the Ball children, it can't be denied.....

Merry Christmas!!!

Insert foot in mouth...I am now a pro

So this is why you never get frustrated then complain about it, because then you eat humble pie, it happens to me every time...I am patient for as long as I can and then when I can't be anymore and I start to get frustrated and start to voice my frustrations that is when things finally decide to work out, then I get to feel stupid and regret my feelings....

So just so you know, I have eaten my pie, and now that its done I will report, we have bought the house! the deal is done, we are just waiting on the lawyers and then we move on the 15th.

The timing is not perfect right before Christmas but who cares, my tree will go up and baking can finally start and I will start to get settled. There is lot's of work ahead of us as far as painting and flooring bathrooms, kitchen and all that good stuff to do but it will be fun...kinda. I love to renovate, I just hate living through it and waiting for them to be done....But I deal.

So here is my house, it's not the best picture it was the one that was listed on the Internet, the right hand side of the house is missing in the picture. It has a big fenced in back yard on a dead end street so no traffic, just 5 more houses then no more road and a big open field for kids to play and ride bikes. 5 big bedrooms and 3 bathrooms and a big open kitchen from 1978, and the best part of the house is I have a hallway in my bedroom with 2 closets on each side of the hallway and at the end of the hallway is the master bath, I think this is what sold me the house, lame I know but I did not expect that in this house so it was a lovely surprise and I loved it!.....and it is mine! Anyway, there is my update...I will be back when things are settled and Christmas is over! Peace out!

This is the life.....

Well here I am, still at my sisters house. I think we are half way through month 5?

Trying to find a house has been a gong show for us and I am starting to get a little tired of the nonsense, It seems every time we find a house the weirdest things happen and we don't get it. We are working on one right now, the offer was made and it was accepted....but we are going on week 4 of trying to figure out the financing which should be a open and shut case but for some reason the banks keep wanting more...more info, more everything. It has been unbelievably frustrating! When we decided to move out of Rocky I didn't want to go, we all know that. But I prayed hard about the decision we were going to need to make, we went to the Temple, and still nothing. I then asked for a blessing, I find comfort in blessings since I often receive the answers I am looking for through them, I find for me they are a great source of communication between me and and the Lord, he tells me things that only he would know since many of my thoughts stay my thoughts, and things that no one would know but him, only he knows the depth of my heart, and I love that, it is a complete conformation that what I know is so true and that God does live and he does hear my prayers, a wonderful gift I hold dear.

During this specific blessing I was told what I needed to do and that all the things I was worried about would work out and everything would be taken care of. Well, to make a long story short...Things in Rocky did work out, all my day home kids found new day homes, I was able to get my house packed up by myself, I did it despite being left for a month since Mitch left a month before we were scheduled to move, and I was day homing up till the Friday, we moved Saturday. Anyway, that all went fine and dandy..I said good bye to my wonderful life I knew and moved with the faith of knowing that something better was on its way and a new life for me to start living was waiting.

Well, we ended up homeless due to events and that is why we ended up living with my sister, we had a house lined up but it went and sold under our noses so that was that. We have since had a run of bad luck like no other, not only is the house finding thing been a trial all in its own but Mitch took a pay cut to take this job, and not just a little one, a biggish one. We did this knowing that its a promotion for Mitch and with in a few years his income will double...its just getting there. Not only did we loose his income but we lost mine as well, it was a long road for Mitch and I to get to where we were in Rocky and we worked hard to get to where we were.

We lived with my parents for 4 years trying to get Mitch through school, we then moved into our own house just to have to move out to Rocky 6 months later, and we then had to live with Mitch's parents while we were trying to find a house in Rocky...We finally got to Rocky and we were doing good In Rocky in every aspect..things were good.

We are now, homeless and poor...and I mean really poor! we have not been this poor since I am sure the first few years of our married life, I feel like we have just gone back to where we worked so hard to get out of, living with family and pukey poor!! Sitting in limbo, not going anywhere, living 45 min outside of the town where our life is waiting to start sucks I want you to know that.

The gas for driving back and forth alone is killing us. We decided to put our kids in school in Pincher Creek because I did not have the heart to put them in school in Cardston where my sister lives, just for them to make friends and be yanked out when we move and have to start over again..But this has been hard on the kids too, they get up a hour earlier then usual and they go in with Mitch every day and they don't get home till 5 at night. They miss all the birthday parties they get invited too because of the drive, and the after school activities and Coltons sports are starting and practices and things like that are making it hard..Not to mention when it snows I have a heart attach with Mitch on those back roads with 4 of my kids. And never mind that I have gained at least 10 pounds living here, not sure if it is the lack of exercises that I have or the stress or the thinking that life is a constant party with my sister, either way, I am trying to get rid of it so I can fit in my clothes properly and its not working..I need a gym and control over what food comes into my home ;)

I just want to move and start this life that we are meant to start, I am mentally drained and soooo done and all I can think about is I just want to have my own house for Christmas...and that a house is soo close I can taste it and if it does not work out I may just loose my mind. The sad thing is we were told we were approved so we were excited but then it came back that they wanted more stuff before the final approval, seriously are you serious??? ya they were serious. SO here we still sit, waiting, and waiting, for my own life back, to have my own house to clean, my own laundry to do, my own stuff to organise and so on..not doing laundry and cooking and cleaning for 12 people anymore..... :P

Don't get me wrong, I love Dina, she has been wonderful and probably the easiest person to live with, I am not even kidding and I am sure she could not say the same about me, I am more of a I like to be in control of my life, I like things done a certain way and if things are out of sort and I don't have order I get cranky, and with 12 people living in a house it is hard to have order, it is hard to have control over how your house hold is run when it isnt your house and nothing in it belongs to you. But thank goodness Dina is a much sweeter more patient person then I am and I love her, it does not bother her when the house is a mess or the laundry is pilled up to the ceiling and there is dished to be done, she is the kind of person who thinks "I will do it when I feel like it, it will get done, no worries"...she is a good person. And really she should go straight to heaven for her wonderfulness of putting up with me. It is fun hanging with my sister but I need my own house, and my own space and my own family...and Dina and James need their house back and their own family time too.

So here I sit, hoping that things work out and if they don't then I will have to accept the Lords will in what it is he feels is right for us.

I know that we all have trials and I feel so silly that this has been mine, the hardest thing I have ever mentally and emotionally have had to do, it has pushed my faith and my cheery attitude to its limits. I know when I think about it there are soo many worse things I could be going though, and then I feel like a spoiled brat for thinking what I think. And why this time has been so much harder then all the other trials in my life I don't know, we have spent that last 13 years struggling with speed bumps all along the road of our life, mostly financial and our living arrangements and things breaking down at very inconvenient times, or getting pregnant with my last 2 kids when were were far from trying to get pregnant, all while living with my parents so sick with these babies I was sure I was going to die.

But despite all that I know I am blessed, and I know my life is good, I have a wonderful loving husband who is so patient with everything and he loves me despite all my weaknesses, he allows me to be who I am and always supports me in what I feel is important for me to do, for me and our children, and tells me I am beautiful every day and I am so thankful for that.

I have 5 wonderful children that drive me crazy sometimes but were blessed with a loving nature like their father. I have the most amazing friends, I have many all around me that are very close to me and I love them all, I was raised in a good home with great parents who taught me to be independent and open minded, to have compassion for all walks of life. I love all my siblings, I enjoy each and everyone of them and I love being together with all of them.

I like to be happy much more then I like to be cranky, I like finding joy in things, mostly things that are fun for my kids, I like watching them have fun in things, I love watching them be kids and do kid things, finding joy makes me happy, sometimes that is hard to do.

I know this is such a small part of my life and it will pass and then I will feel bad for complaining about such trivial things....But seriously, can it end now please, can I just find a house?? That is all I ask out of life...to be happy with what I have and to not want for more then what I have, but until I have a house I have a feeling that I won't quite be fully cheerful.

So that is my rant for the day...Soon enough things will be better and I will be my old self again...."soon" being the word of the day...the word I will cling to, hold on to and keep close to my heart because this was the word that was used when I was told of my many blessing that await me...in my new life, in Pincher Creek. good luck to me!

The nightmere begins...

O.k, so I am officially a slacker, not much I can do about it....I have many blogs in my head yet I lack the motivation to site down and do them. I hate to type..I know shocker, bet you all can't see that seeing how my grammar and spelling are top notch. But right now this is not going to be the focus...right now the focus is going to be on my cleavage.. So here is how the story goes.

About a month ago now my worst fears came true, I was doing my daughters hair for school and I noticed a bunch of white things in her hair...Thinking to myself that I should go and find the dry patch she must have on her head so that I could get some stuff on it...While in my search I found a little bug, thinking I have found bugs in my kids hair before but I do not recognise this bug...Then I searched a little more and it didn't take long before another one was found. At this point I called my other daughter over and started to go through her hair as well...yep you guessed it...a bug or 2 or 10. ARRGGGHHHHHH LICE!!!! Are you serious!!!??? I then googled the images of them and yep, there they were...My heart sank and a little black cloud started to make its way right above my head. I checked every ones head after that just to find out that 8 out if 12 of us all had lice, including me!

I then went to the pharmacy to get shampoo, came home and shampooed..then started to pick. I went outside and sat them one by one on the porch just to find the bugs did not die!! SO I then went and decided that I was not messing around, I had a friend who fought it and she used Vaseline so I took out that bottle and started to gob and gob all our hair with Vaseline then put shower caps on our heads till the next day. In the morning they were dead..tiny tiny ones I would never have seen....So glad I used the Vaseline. I then googled all the home remedies I could find and did all that I could do.

So that morning we washed and washed the Vaseline out then put peanut butter in our hair for few hours and then washed that out, it was suppose to help take the Vaseline out..which it did. The I took the kids out and picked and picked one by one...Now for those of you who know my hair and my children's hair...this was a nightmare we have more hair in just my little family to start our own wig shop!! Baileys hair which is thicker then thick alone took 3 hours to pick through the first day...then 2 every day after that. I picked from 8:30 am till 6pm outside, non stop for 5 days. then after supper Dina would pick through my hair.

My girls were sooo up set about the whole thing so I would try soo hard to make them laugh and find humor in the situation, I would tell them that they are just bugs and we will get them gone and we just have to so our best, work hard, and try to make our minds strong so we don't cry. That we will get through it and its not big deal so not to worry. It worked, but at night when the kids went to bed, the black cloud would hang over my head, I hated that feeling. I am pretty sure I have never felt like that before in my life and it was awful!!! I felt like I had no control and that it was never going to go away and we would never be normal again.

All this while Mitch was in Europe, for the record things like this always happen when he is gone so I get to deal with it on my own.

But I did it, I was a machine, I had to get it gone!! So I did not stop till Ihad it gone...SO for a week, I was washing, freezing, boiling, bagging all the stuffies, vacuuming 3 times a day..washing bedding, pillows, vacuuming mattresses, washing towels after every use, picking, changing clothes 4 times a day. I then confined all the kids to one bed so when they woke up I could rip off the bedding and vacuum one mattress. Every night after I picked hair I would take a straightener to it because frankly those things are hot and I could burn those little eggs, I then gooped hair with gel and shaving cream pulled it up and that was that for the day...Just to start again tomorrow. It was the craziest 2 weeks of my life and I hope I never have to do that again!!! IT was horrid, and I am the type of person who when there is something to get done, just do it, do what you got to do and get it done no matter what...SO I went and went for a week straight...I think I drove Dina a little crazy..My OCD took over a little, but I think it was helpful in this situation...My friend who's daughter had lice too, fought hers for 2 months..I was not going to play that game!! SO after the 7 days I went and got some Mayo, which a few had told me that it worked..so day 7,8,9,10 we gobbed our heads and put bags on them and went to bed....It was the barfiest thing I have ever done and was pretty much gagging the whole time..IF I ever smell Mayo again I just may puke. But after day 14 I went to the pharmacy and asked for shampoo that actually worked, and I got some and did a final shampoo on everyone...total lice shampoo cost..$150.00.

Anyway, its over now and thank goodness....so here are some pictures of what we call "the dark lice days" enjoy the album.

This was me trying to make the situation funny for my girls...and give my husband a little somthin somthin when I sent him the picks when he was in Europe for 3 weeks with out me..but not really on purpose, he just lucked out it all....So you get a little "peak" (no pun intended) at the girls....If you look closely you can see madi and Dina in the back ground with their caps as well.

Me and Dina one night with mayo in our hair and laughing at the whole situation..
This is me telling her, her head really stinks..
hmmm....???
This is us washing the crap out of our hair....Caution, object(s) in picture may seem larger then they really appear ( mostly my bum) And as you can see our house work was a little neglected for a few days...I was outside picking hair...dishes came last people.
Madi all gooped up.
Showing off a little peanut butter in the hair....makes it nice and soft.
Dina looking lovely. She kinda of looks like a "who" here, she should look out for the Grinch.
Brett with his mayo and shaving cream.
The picking experience was soooo relaxing madi fell asleep...Please ignore the undies..I am slightly inappropriate at times.
I took pity on her and layed her down. I am a nice Aunty.
This is Coltons head...he was super excited for the whole experience.
O.k..here comes the monstrous laundry....Pillows, and blankets, and sheets..oh my!
Macey had to be in every picture, and bathing suits were worn by all allll week long. Pile of blankets by the piano..These ones are clean and ready for bagging..
This is baileys clothes from her dresser... I took out all the clothes and washed them and vacuumed out dressers too.
Just a peek into the laundry room.
Another view.
And yet another....I can hardly look at without feeling completely exhausted.
So there you have, the week from you know where!!! we survived, we conquered.. now if you ever get it, you have a pro here to help you along the way......But we did not come out un scarred, we still a month later when our children are on our laps go through their hair...I will never be then same, constant paranoia!..Oh well, life goes on and we just keep on going with smiles and giggles, because this is going to be one day be "mom remember when we had lice"? then we will all laugh...or not.